Ignition system



A. 0. DE LORME IGNITION SYSTEM.

APPLICATION F ILED DEC.3I. 1918.

Patented Sept. 28, 1920.

NVENTOR FILFEED DE LEE/4E.

BY ,87? WW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED C. DE LORME, OIE EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO SPLITDORFELECTRICAL COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IGIEITION SYSTEM.

I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented S t 28 192() Applicationfiled December 31, 1918. Serial No. 269,088.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED C. DE LORME, acitizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county ofEssex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ignition Systems, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an ignition sys tem for use in connection withinternal combustion engines, and more particularly to largemulti-cylinder engines, such as used on airplanes, which are hard and inmany cases dangerous in starting. In the latter class of engines it iscustomary to provide two ignition devices, preferably in the shape ofmagnetos, one of which is directly connected with the engine to' furnishthe ignition current after the engine has been started and anotherignition machine, which can be operated by hand independently of theengine, for furnishing starting current.

In starting airplane engines with this type of an ignition systeminstalled thereon, it is the usual practice to prime the enginecylinders by the injection of liquid fuel or by turning the engine overthrough the medium of the propeller, the ignition being switched to theoff position while the engine is being turned. The act of turning theengine over by the propeller draws in charges of fuel into the cylindersand there will be at least one such cylinder in which the piston haspassed over dead center and is in what is known as the working stroke.It is the function of the starting magneto then to furnish current tothe spark plug of the cylinder in which the piston is in the workingstroke. The charge in this cylinder being under a certain amount ofcompression will be ignited and the explosion will turn the engine oversufliciently for the service magneto, which is connected to a spark plugin the cylinder in which the piston is on the compression stroke or inadvance of the one that is in the working stroke, to pick up the engineafter which the operation of the starting magneto is discontinued. Onemethod of operating such an ignitlon system is described in a patent toG. Honold et ah, #1,014,824, issued January 16, 1912.

It'isthe object of my present invention to provide improvements 1ncertain details which will add to the efliciency of such system.

In the drawing Figure 1 is an end View of a distributer block used inthe system.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but for a block used with an ignitionmachine having a direction of rotation opposite that us ing the blockfor Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the distributing member operating within thedistributer block.

Fig. 5 is a right hand end view of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a part longitudinal and sectional view of Fig. 4 showingdiagrammatically the electrical connections of the starting and runningignition devices to the distributing member.

Referring now to the details, wherein like numbers refer tocorresponding parts in the various views, 1 is a distributer block whichis adapted for use in connection with an eight cylinder engine. Thedistributer contacts are arranged in two rows A and B, there being eightcontacts in each row. The contacts in the row toward the front of theblock have connectors 2 adapted to be connected to the spark plugs 3 to10 inclusive which it is understood are located in the engine cylinders.A distributing member 11, which is operatively driven by the engine,)referably through the gearing mechanism between the engine and theignition generator, is adapted to rotate within the hollow portion ofthe distributer block 1 in such relation that the'distributing terminal12, which is connected to the secondary S of the running ignitionmachine, comes in operative relationship with the row of contacts B;while the distributing terminal 13, which is electrically connected tothe secondary s of the starting generator, comes in operativerelationship with the row of contacts A. The contacts 14 in rows A and Bare preferably serrated while the distributing terminals 12 and 13 arealso serrated and pass in close proximity to the contacts 14 withoutcoming in actual engagement therewith. I prefer this jump spark type ofconstruction for certain classes of work as it eliminates the carbontrail where a rubbing contact is used, although it is to be understoodthat my invention is applicable to distributing mechanism wherein thecontacts are of the rubbing type.

The running generator has the usual primary P and condenser K andcircuit breaker tributing member 11 is rotated in the direction of thearrow shown in Fig. 2, the individual contacts 14 in row A are crosscon-V nected to corresponding contacts in row B,

inders, an ignition device adapted to prog displaced one firing intervalfrom the contact in row A. By this arrangement, it will be seen thatwhen the distributing member 11 is in a position in line with adjacentcontacts in rows A and B that the terminal 12 will be in electricaloperative position to deliver ignition current to a contact in row A oneignition interval ahead of the contact which is in line with theterminatl3; therefore, it is readily seen that when the terminal 13 isconnected electrically to a spark plug in a cylinder in which the pistonis on the working stroke that the terminal 12 .Wlll be in electricaloperative position to deliver current to a spark plug in a cylinder inwhich the piston is on the compression stroke. 7

In certain special cases, depending on the arrangement of the enginecylinders, I may arrange the row of contacts A in somewhat staggeredrelation with reference to contacts in row B, that is to say, myinvention contemplates the relative shifting in angular position of thecontacts in row A with reference to those in row B to meet anyoperativecondition necessary, bgt by way of illustration the contacts in bothrows are shown directly adjacent each other. I preferably employ agroove 17 between the two rows of contacts, in order to increase thesurface therebetween so as to prevent interference between the twosources of ignition current. i It will be understood that variouschanges may be made in the details of my invention without departingfrom the spirit of the same and the scope of the appended'claims. Havingnow particularly described my invention what I claim is 1, In anignition system for engines using spark plugs for igniting the fuel inits cylduce a spark at any one of said plugs for starting ignition, anindependent ignition device adapted to produce a spark at said plug forrunning ignition, means for electrically connecting the startingignition device to said plug'when the piston in the cylinder containingsaid plug is in the working stroke and means for electrically connectingthe running ignition device to said plug 'when the said piston is in thecompression stroke, .said means including a distributer block having tworows of contacts, the conspark plugs for igniting'the fuel in itscylinders, anignition device adapted to produce a spark at any one ofsaid plugs for starting ignition when the engine is at rest, a secondignition device operatively connected to saidjengine and adapted toproduce a spark at said plug for running ignition when the engine isrotated at sufficiently highzspeed, and means for electricallyconnecting said ignition devices alternately to said plug, said meansincluding a distributer block having two rows of contacts, the contactsof one row being cross connected individually to a corresponding contactone firing. interval away in the other row as describe 3. In an ignitionsystem for engines using spark plugs for ignitin the fuel in itscylinders, an ignition devlce adapted to produce a spark at any one ofsaid plugs, a second ignition device operatively connected to the engineand adapted to produce a spark at said plug for running ignition whenthe engine is rotating at sufliciently high speed, means including adistributer block having two rows of contacts, the contacts of one rowbeing cross connected individually to a corresponding contact, onefiring interval away in the other row for electrlcally connecting saidignition devices in succession to said plug and means disconnected fromthe engine for operating'the first mentioned ignition device to producea spark at said p ug for starting ignition when the engine is at rest.

4. In an electrical "ignition system for multi-cylinder enginesusingspark plugs for igniting the charges of fuel in its cylinders, a currentsupply adapted to produce a spark at said plugs for starting ignition, asecond current supply adapted to produce a. spark at said plugs forrunning ignition, a distributer having two rows of electrical contacts,those of one row being individually connected to corresponding contacts'one firing interval away in the other row, said connected contact pairsbeing electrically connected to said plugs according to the firing orderof the engine, means for electrically connecting the firstmentionedsource of current to successive contacts in one row and meansfor connecting the'second mentioned source of current to successive.adjacent contacts in the other row.

5. In an electrical ignition system for multi-cylinder engines usingspark;plugs for igniting the charges of fuel in its cylinders, a currentsupp y adapted to produce a spark at said plugs for startin'g ignition,a

second current supply adapted to produce a spark atwsaid plugs forrunnin ignition, a

distributer having two rows of e ectrical contacts with electricalconnections from the contacts of onerow to said plugs, means forelectrically connecting the first mentioned source ofcurrent .to thecontacts in one row, means for connecting the second mentioned source ofcurrent to the contacts inthe other row and means for cross connectingsaid contacts whereby the second mentioned source is connected to a pluin advance of the one connected to the rstg mentioned source in thedirection of rotation of the engine.

6. In n ignition system for engines usin spark plugs for igniting thefuel in its cy inders, an ignition devlce adapted to produce a spark atany one of said plugs, a secat sai plug for running engine is rotatingat su 0nd ignition device operatively connectedto the en 'ne and adaptedto produce a spark ignition when the ciently high speed,

a distributer block having a row of contacts electrically connected tosaid plugs, asecond row of contacts in said block, two distribut-- ingterminals operativelyconnected to the engine to be rotated thereby incooperation with the contacts in the distributer block, means forconnecting the first named ignition device to one 0; said distributingterminals, means for connecting the second named ignition device to-theother of said terminals, means for cross connecting the contacts in thedistributer block so that the second named ignition device is connectedto a plug in advance of-one connected to the first named ignition deviceand means independent of the engine for operating the first mentionedignition device to produce a spark at one of said plugs when the engineis at rest. a

In witness whereof I aflix my signature.

ALFRED C. DE :LORME.

